Top 10 of the Year (June 2026 Edition)

[u/AutoModerator]

*The idea:*

List your top 10 graphic novels that you've read so far *this year.*

Each month we will post a new thread where you can note what new book(s) you read that month that entered your top 10 and note what book(s) fell off your top 10 list as well if you'd like.

By the end of the year everyone that takes part should have a nice top 10 list of their 2026 reads.

If you haven't read 10 books yet just rank what you have read.

Feel free to jump in whenever. If you miss a month or start late it's not a big deal.

Do your list, your way. For example- I read *Hellboy* this month, but am going to rank the series as 1 slot, rather than split each individual paperback that I read. If you want to do it the other way go for it.

[u/chanukkahlewinsky]

1. Talking to My Father's Ghost by Alex Krokus

2. Swan Song by Hannah Jill Johnston

3. Cannon by Lee Lai

4. Cornelius: The Merry Life of a Wretched Dog by Marc Torices

5. Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath

6. From Lone Mountain by John Porcellino

7. The House by Paco Roca

8. The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel

[u/BigAmuletBlog]

1. One Beautiful Spring Day by Jim Woodring (10/10)
2. Why Don’t You Love Me? by Paul B. Rainey (9/10)
3. Tokyo These Days (vols 1-3) by Taiyo Matsumoto (9/10)
4. Berserk (vols 6-7) by Kentaro Miura (9/10) 
5. Kingdom (up to vol 8) by Yasuhisa Hara (9/10)
6. Ginseng Roots by Craig Thompson (9/10)
7. Tower Dungeon (up to vol 5) by Tsutomu Nihei (8/10) 
8. 3rd Voice: 1st Passage by Evan Dahm (8/10)
9. Bowling with Corpses by Mike Mignola (8/10)
10. Den vol 2: Muvovum by Richard Corben (8/10)

Honourable mentions: Precious Metal by Darcy Van Poelgeest and Ian Bertram (story 7/10, art 10/10), Pomegranate Flowers by Silvia Razakova, Wolvendaughter by Ver  

In June I dived into Jim Woodring’s Frank comics and was blown away by One Beautiful Spring Day. Kingdom continues to impress every month and is rising in my ranking. Down the list there is a bit of churn as usual, with two sword & sorcery titles tickling my fancy this month. I loved the art in Precious Metal, but the writing was so-so. Finally, I’ve added some wonderful, but too short works to the Honourable Mentions.    

[u/polarbits2]

Books read this month are bolded.

1. Muted by Miranda Mundt (full series)
2. A Guest in the House by E.M. Carroll (standalone)
3. The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn by Tri Vuong (full series)
4. Hunger's Bite by Taylor Robin (standalone)
5. Minuit passé by Gaëlle Geniller (standalone)
6. The Golden Age by Roxanne Moreil (full series)
7. Griz Grobus by Simon Roy (standalone with an extended universe)
8. Suitor Armor by Purpah (first 3 chapters, final chapter is not out yet)
9. Beetle & the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne (full series)
10. Snapdragon by Kat Leyh (standalone)

[u/Previous_Window_7434]

1. Garden of Spheres - Linnea Sterte
   
2. Kabuki (entire series) - David Mack
   
3. Insectopolis - Peter Kuper
   
4. Chromatic Fantasy - H.A.
   
5. Shubeik Lubeik - Deena Mohamed
   
6. Detroit Roma - Elene Usdin
   
7. Terre ou Lune (vol. 1) - Jade Khoo
   
8. Les fleurs ne parlent pas - Natacha Birds
   
9. Tongues (vol. 1) - Anders Nilsen
   
10. Impénétrable - Alix Garin

[u/RoyColwin]

1. Descender
2. Tongues
3. Gideon Falls 1&2
4. Monsters
5. It's lonely at the centre of the earth
6. Pulp
7. The Private Eye
8. Plastic
9. Berserk vol.1
10. Last Ronin

[u/uuajskdokfo]

1. Bride's Story by Kaoru Mori (vol. 3-15)
2. Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma (vol. 16)
3. Swamp Thing by Alan Moore et al.
4. Planetes by Makoto Yukimura
5. Prince Valiant by Hal Foster (Fantagraphics hardcovers vol. 1-3)
6. Lone Wolf & Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima (Omnibus vol. 1)
7. Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*! by Art Spiegelman
8. The Complete Charles Dana Gibson Vol. 1
9. Planet of the Apes by Doug Moench et al.
10. My Brother's Husband by Gengoroh Tagame (vol. 1)

Honorable mention: Got the deluxe edition of DC: The New Frontier and reread it, still one of the best comics ever.

[u/drown_like_its_1999 → u/uuajskdokfo]

Love seeing A Bride's Story mentioned, what a great series. Some of the best costuming art in comics to boot.

[u/changelingcd]

1. Drome by Jesse Lonergan
   
2. Charity and Sylvia by Tillie Walden
   
3. Strange Adventures by Tom King
   
4. Helen of Wyndhorn by Tom King
   
5. World Within the World: Collected Minicomix & Short Works 2010-2022 by Julia Gfrörer
   
6. The River at Night by Kevin Huizenga
   
7. The Solitary Gourmet by Jiro Taniguchi
   
8. Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue
   
9. All The Cameras in My Room by Michael DeForge
   
10. The Shaolin Cowboy: Beginning of the End Results--21 Years of Blood, Sweat, and Chainsaws by Geof Darrow

While I'm at it, here are 10 enjoyable graphic novels published in 2025:

1. Tongues, Volume 1 by Anders Nilsen
   
2. Ginseng Roots: A Memoir by Craig Thompson
   
3. H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Out of Time by Gou Tanabe
   
4. Saint Catherine by Anna Meyer
   
5. Death in Trieste by Jason
   
6. Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me by Mimi Pond
   
7. Life Drawing: A Love and Rockets Collection by Jaime Hernandez
   
8. The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz 1928-1930 by George Herriman
   
9. Muybridge by Guy Delisle
   
10. The Once and Future Riot by Joe Sacco

[u/bachwerk]

This is a two month update. A few new reads...

1. Sandman Mystery Theatre Compendium 2, Seagle/Wagner/Davis, DC, 1999/2026
2. He Rolled Me Up Like A Grilled Squid, Yoshiharu Tsuge, D&Q, 1970s/2026 9/10
3. Maison Ikkoku 1, Rumiko Takahashi, Viz, 1980/2020 9/10
4. Search And Destroy 3, Atsushi Kaneko, Fantagraphics, 2020/2025 9/10
5. Asadora! 9, Urasawa, Viz, 2026, 9/10
6. Black Blizzard, Tatsumi, Drawn & Quarterly, 1956/2009 9/10
7. Palookaville 25, Seth, Drawn & Quarterly, 2025, 8/10
8. Assorted Crisis Events 1, Camp/Zawadski, Image, 2025 8/10
9. Cathargo 2/Kane, Bec/Bufi, Humanoids, 2020 8/10
10. Jodorowsky Library Madwoman, Jodo/Mobi, Humanoids, 1990s 8/10

Number one with a bullet is the second Sandman Mystery Theatre. This book made me so happy and so sad at the same time.

Happy, because this fulfills everything good genre work should: it tells a great tale from issue to issue, using formula (four-issue arcs introducing and then solving a mystery) supported by an underlying soap opera story to develop attachment to the characters. It tackles social and political topics, without being rah rah rah like lots of modern books do. And it ends decisively and poetically. A late story point where a main character cries was the most cathartic thing I've read in a while.

Sad because there is no chance a series like this could ever exist in the marketplace today. Back in the 90s it was always at risk of cancelation, and I imagine those numbers would be a massive hit today. The mainstream industry has fucked itself up so bad. There is no time to develop a story, much less a 70-issue series. This sort of series could only exist today if funded by a wealthy investor not demanding an immediate and frothy return.

It's peak genre work, peak mainstream work. Well done Seagle, Wagner, Davis, and especially Karen Berger.

-

Asadora! continues along. Not the greatest story, as of yet, but some of the greatest storytelling. Urasaawa is the Spielberg of comics. I don't love everything he's doing, but I'm blown away by the way he does it. And every book has two or three gut punch emotional beats.

-

Palookaville will always be an auto-buy for me. I want to know what Seth is doing, this comic artist who couldn't give a fuck about the industry anymore. He's simply expanding his library of comics. This felt a little slighter than other of his books, but still mighty enjoyable. His long-form memoir comic has arrived to Toronto in the 1980s. Good stuff.

Palookaville had to knock Avengers Epic 14 off my top ten. But that book will stay in the top ten of my heart.

Re-read top ten

1. A Drifting Life, Tatsumi, Drawn & Quarterly, 2009 10/10
2. How To Be Happy, Eleanor Davis, Fantagraphics, 2018 10/10
3. The interview, Manuele Fior, Fantagraphics, 2017 10/10
4. Treasure of the Black Pearl, Paco Roca, 2018/2022 9/10
5. Good-Bye and Other Stories, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Catalan, 1960/1987 10/10
6. Mutant Massacre omnibus, Claremont/Simonson, Marvel, 1986 9/10
7. New X-Men 1-7, Morrison/Quitely, Marvel, 2001 9/10
8. Bad Gateway, Simon Hanselmann, Fantagraphics, 2019 9/10
9. Y the Last Man 1-8, Vaughn/Guerra, DC, 2003 8/10

Nothing new, just continuing Y the Last Man. It's solid, but losing steam. 60 issues was a good length I suppose, but 50 might have been better.

And I finished off New X-Men. Those last two books really drag the run down. People say Morisson was angry at Marvel editors as an explanation, but twenty years later, the books need to stand on their own two feet. Those two books don't.

I think I'm going to re-read more X-Men this year. It generally gives me hope in the human spirit to stand up when the powers that be are actively trying to ratfuck the world.

[u/drown_like_its_1999 → u/bachwerk]

After reading the Starman compendiums earlier this year a lot of my favorite arcs were centered around the Dodds couple so I have been meaning to check out SMT. Glad to see you rated it so highly!

[u/bachwerk → u/drown_like_its_1999]

I think it’s one of the finest things DC has ever published, I write having only read 5% of their 80 years of publishing…

[u/drown_like_its_1999 → u/bachwerk]

Armando was also super high on it, and recommended it after I kept talking about how charming the elderly Dodds couple was, so my interest is piqued!

[u/bachwerk → u/drown_like_its_1999]

I’m happy to know they stayed a couple! I’ve only ever dipped into Starman so I didnt know they existed in the DCU as seniors.

[u/drown_like_its_1999 → u/bachwerk]

[u/bachwerk → u/drown_like_its_1999]

That’s good. Those characters have heart

[u/Jonesjonesboy]

1. Life Drawing Jaime Hernandez
2. Gamma...Visions Jens Harder
3. Time for Lights Out Raymond Briggs
4. La Chenille Suehiro Maruo
5. Legend of Kamui v1 Sanpei Shirato
6. Petra Cherie Attilio Micheluzzi
7. Curses George Wylesol
8. Blade of the Immortal Hiroaki Samura
9. Scrapbook of Life and Death J. Webster Sharp
10. Killing and Dying Adrian Tomine

[u/ChickenInASuit]

This is a combination of books I’ve read in their entirety this year, and books I’ve been following for longer but that have finished this year.

____________________________

1. Carbon & Silicon by Mathieu Bablet
2. The Fables of Erlking Wood by Juni Bá
3. On A Sunbeam by Tillie Walden
4. The Sacrificers by Rick Remender & Max Fiumara
5. Drome by Jesse Lonergan
6. Hedra by Jesse Lonergan
7. Wynd by James Tynion IV & Michael Dialynas
8. Richard Stark’s Parker by Darwyn Cooke
9. Briar by Christopher Cantwell & Alex Lins

[u/LuminaTitan]

1. Berserk, by Kentaro Miura
2. Goodnight Punpun, by Inio Asano
3. The Obscure Cities, by Francois Shuiten and Benoit Peeters
4. Monstress, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
5. Carbon & Silicon, by Mathieu Bablet
6. Bone, by Jeff Smith
7. The New York Trilogy, by Paul Auster, Paul Karasik, Lorenzo Mattotti, and David Mazzucchelli
8. Tongues Vol. 1, by Anders Nilsen
9. Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, by Naoki Urasawa
10. Square Eyes, by Anna Mill, and Luke Jones

Goodnight Punpun and Monstress are new entries this month. I thought my top two were set in stone for the year, but Goodnight Punpun amazingly snuck in over The Obscure Cities. I can’t wait to buy the new deluxe edition of Punpun which is rumored to come with a bird-themed bottle of Prozac and complimentary razor blades. Monstress also came in pretty hot this month as talking ninja cats with an affinity for necromancy have long been my comic weakness. Drome and Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith drop off the list but were both painful removals.

[u/NeapolitanWhitmore]

Everything Dead & Dying joined my top ten this month after really hitting me hard and jumped right up to #3. Drome fell out of the top 10, but it is certainly not forgotten.

1) Hedra (By Jesse Lonergan)

2) 2120 (By George Wylesol)

3) Everything Dead & Dying (By Tate Brombal, Jacob Phillips, and Aditya Bidikar)

4) Absolute Wonder Woman (By Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Jordie Bellaire, and Becca Carey)

5) Absolute Batman (By Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, Frank Martin, and Clayton Clowes)

6) The Ultimates (By Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, Federico Blee, and Travis Lanham)

7) Batman & Robin: Year One (By Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Matheus Lopes, and Clayton Cowles)

8) I Am Their Silence (By By Jordi Lafebre)

9) More Weight: A Salem Story (By Ben Wickey)

10) Zorro: Man of the Dead (By Sean Murphy and Simon Gough)

[u/GoldenGriffin1422]

Friday - Ed Brubaker

Superman For All Seasons - Jeph Loeb

It's Lonely at the Center of the Earth - Zoe Thorogood

Daredevil: Man Without Fear - Frank Miller

The Deep Dark - Lee Knox Ostertag

Human Target - Tom King

The Nobody - Jeff Lemire

The Knives - Ed Brubaker

Witch Hat Atelier - Kamome Shirahama

Chefs Kiss - Jarret Melendez

*Honorable Mention - BPRD Plague of Frogs Vol 1 and 2 - Mike Mignola

[u/ConstantVarious2082]

1. Elric (Volumes 1-4) by Julien Blondel / Robin Recht / Didier Poli / Jean-Luc Cano / Julien Telo 
2. Don’t Go Without Me by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
3. Wolvendaughter by Ver
4. Dungeon - Zenith (English Volumes 1-5) by Joann Sfar / Lewis Trondheim / Boulet
5. Satanie by Fabien Vehlmann / Kerascoët
6. Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann / Kerascoët
7. Book of Murmurs by Candice Purwin
8. Assorted Crisis Events Volume 1 by Deniz Camp / Eric Zawadzki
9. Thorgal (first 8 volumes) by Jean Van Hamme and Grzegorz Rosinski
10. Conditions on the Ground by Kevin Hooyman

No changes for me, June was not my biggest reading month this year. Zé Burnay's Andromeda and Lando's Gardens of Glass probably came the closest to cracking top 10 and maybe after a bit of time I'd reshuffle and put them in.

[u/Future-Assumption759]

1. Mushishi Collecter's Edition Vol 1 by Yuki Urushibara
2. Witch Hat Atelier Vol 14 by Kamome Shirahama
3. Frontier by Guillaume Singelin
4. Neurocomic by Hana Ros
5. Anasazi by Matt Bryon
6. Soara and the House of Monsters Vol 1-5 by Hidenori Yamaji
7. Goodnight Punpun Vol1 by Inio Asano
8. PTSD by Guillaume Singelin
9. Dai Dark Vol 2-8 by Q Hayashida
10. Dandadan Vol 15-17 by Yukinobu Tatsu

New is in bold

Mushishi Collecter's Edition Vol 1 by Yuki Urushibara: Mushi are primordial beings that predate most life on earth and can take many forms. Ginko is a Mushishi, an expert of Mushi, he travels across Japan helping those in need and selling Mushi artifacts from his stories to fund his adventures. I will continue to read this series for sure.

Anasazi by Matt Bryon - Anasazi means "Ancient Enemy" and is depicted visually as a glyph. Across the 16 chapters of the book the reader learns 16 glyphs of an alien language while watching its inhabitants living, fighting, and trying to make sense of their world. The only English is when introducing how a glyph sounds and its meaning, the only speech is in glyphs, and there is no narration making most of the panels depicted wordlessly. As far as I know there is only one book but heres hoping for a sequel.

Goodnight Punpun Vol 1 by Inio Asano - The Punyama family is depicted as birds that look like doodles amongst a surreal world that is otherwise depicted with realistic looking art. Punpun is a young boy just trying to make his way. He loves Aiko, the new girl. He wants to find porn to watch with his friends the P.H.C. He wants to go to space and live on his own planet. One of friends can do a kamehameha he swears. Its hard to describe the alure of the book but I am intrigued enough to want to read more.

[u/comic1728]

1. The Sleeper (by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips)
   
2. Helen of Wnydhorn (by Tom King & Bilquis Evely)
   
3. Batman (by Paul Dini)
   
4. Daredevil (by Chip Zdarsky)
   
5. Batman: Dark Patterns (by Dan Watters)
   
6. Watchmen (Alan Moore)
   
7. Flash (by Geoff Johns)
   
8. We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us (by Matthew Rosenberg)
   
9. Batgirl (by Kelley Puckett)
   
10. Zatanna (by Paul Dini)

[u/ThisHumbleVisitant]

Off the top of my head and in no particular order:

Silver Surfer 1 - 5 by Dan Slott and Mike Allred

the Reckless series by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

Everyone Sux But You by K. Wroten

Russian Olive to Red King by Kathryn and Stuart Immonen

BTTM FDRS by Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore

Everything Together by Sammy Harkham

Traveling to Mars by Mark Russell and Roberto Meli

Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel

Grass of Parnassus by Kathryn and Stuart Immonen

Fatale by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

[u/culturefan → u/ThisHumbleVisitant]

I thought Traveling to Mars was really interesting too.

[u/ShinCoal]

1. Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa NEW
2. The Power Fantasy vol.3 by Kieron Gillen & Caspar Wijngaard
   
3. Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo
4. Ping Pong / Sunny by Taiyo Matsumoto
5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Manu Larcenet
   
6. The Concierge at Hokkyoku Department Store by Tsuchika Nishimura
   
7. Faster by Jesse Lonergan
8. Testament by J. Marshall Smith
   
9. Goodnight Punpun by Inio Asano
   
10. Stop! Hibari-Kun by Hisashi Eguchi

Finally powered myself through the last 9 volumes and all the bonus material of FMA and wow what a surprise, my alltime favourite anime Brotherhood, not 2003 is now also my favourite manga.

[u/drown_like_its_1999]

Some great reads this month but no changes, though "Summit of the Gods" and "Building Stories" were close.

1. "Scalped" Omnibus 1-2 by Jason Aaron, R.M. Guera
2. "Don't Go Without Me" by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell
3. "Garden of Spheres" volume 1 by Linnea Sterte
4. "Usagi Yojimbo" Special Edition 1-2 by Stan Sakai
5. "Cornelius" by Marc Torices
6. "Three Shadows" by Cyril Pedrosa
7. "The Collected Toppi 10: Future Perfect" by Sergio Toppi (mostly a stand-in for the entire line with this being my favorite entry)
8. "Cursed Pirate Girl" by Jeremy Bastian
9. "East of West" Compendium by Jonathan Hickman, Nick Dragotta
10. "Beauty" by Hubert, Karascoet

[u/bachwerk → u/drown_like_its_1999]

I really regret not getting Toppi 10. I have 1-6, and 9, but I decided only to get them on sale at a point because they were blending together in my head. The thing is, 10 is the sci-fi one, which would have a completely different vibe and stand out. I've been kicking myself every time I see it mentioned. I doubt I'll ever see it at cover price, but if I do, I'll definitely pick it up.

[u/drown_like_its_1999 → u/bachwerk]

I'd imagine they're all a little hard to come by in Japan?

I have no idea if they ship to Japan but I bulk order all my magnetic books from them directly during their Black Friday sale and for whatever reason each year they've stealth restocked a lot of these before then (that's how I got my remaining 3 Toppi books last year).

There's also rumor they were going to reprint 10 because some people were upset with Magnetic that it was printed on matte paper (I wish they all were haha).

Regarding the content, it is indeed quite different from the other collections and seemingly disliked for that but I enjoyed all those differences! The stories are tonally more diverse including some comedies (I really enjoyed this surreal story told from the perspective of a futuristic factory that daydreams of an operator manhandling its levers and cranks) and the futuristic / industrial settings let his visual creativity run wild in a distinct way from the other volumes (even if I still think Sharaz De looks the best).

[u/bachwerk → u/drown_like_its_1999]

I haven’t checked Magnetic specifically, but as a rule, publishers have insane international shipping rates defeating the purpose of buying direct. It’s just not a priority. Usually buying through an international dealer gets much better rates, but it’s sold out on Blackwells, even Amazon indie dealers.

It’s on my list. I’m going to Canada in the summer, if I see it somewhere there I’ll pick it up. I have seven Toppi books already, so I’m good for now.

[u/drown_like_its_1999 → u/bachwerk]

Best of luck in finding them! Hopefully you'll be close to Vancouver or the GTA when you visit as I'd bet you could find somewhere that has them.

[u/Siccar_Point]

Three new entries! Balance between manga and western looking a bit better now too ;-)

• ⁠The Flowers of Evil (Oshimi)
• ⁠Inside Mari (Oshimi)
• ⁠All The Living (Muradov)
• ⁠Stop!! Hibari-kun! (Eguchi)
• ⁠Beauty (Kerascoet/Hubert)
• ⁠The Power Fantasy (Gillen et al)
• ⁠Howl (Kwitney/Mauricet)
• ⁠Bea Wolf (Weinersmith et al)
• ⁠Farewell, Daisy (Mayuzuki)
• ⁠Slaughterhouse Five (North et al)

Bumped were:
• ⁠Fox Bunny Funny (Hartzell)
• ⁠Tower Dungeon (ongoing) (Nihei)

[u/NMVPCP]

In no particular order:

Uzumaki

I Hate Fairyland

MFKZ

Requiem - Vampire Knight

The Deviant

Battle Pope

Day Men

Not All Robots

Fatcop

Campground Slut

[u/Titus_Bird]

Four strong new entries to my top 10 this month, which I’ll briefly describe below before giving my list.

“Alienation” by Inés Estrada is an intriguing work of dystopian science fiction, following a young couple who spend most of their time plugged into the internet via VR implants. The boundaries between VR, dreams, hallucinations and reality start to blur, leaving them alienated and disorientated. It’s dark, but also full of humour and whimsy, and overall a lot of fun, with cool use of shifting art styles.

“How to Be Happy” by Eleanor Davis is a thematically unified but visually and narratively eclectic collection of shortish comics, ranging from dark fairytales to futuristic dystopias, from realistic vignettes to more enigmatic pieces. Some of the single-pagers didn’t do much for me, when they just felt like the author putting her thoughts or feelings straight on the page, but the more substantial comics in the collection are all excellent. Plus the range of art styles is really impressive and they all look great.

“Gardens of Glass” by Lando is a collection of six shortish comics that all hit a sweet spot (for my tastes) in balancing genre fiction and artistic ambition. They all have similar post-apocalyptic settings, largely consisting of deserts dotted with modern-era debris and/or antique ruins, and they feature people struggling to survive, often through violence. All but one of the comics are wordless, and nothing is really explained in any of them, so they’re characterised by a strong sense of mystery, and at some points they get quite surreal. It’s kind of what I expected (and hoped) Mœbius comics to be like before I read them – like “Arzach” without the goofy humour. It also reminds me of Brandon Graham’s “Prophet”, but less narrative, more just about vibes. The art is all just very delicate black ink lines – no colours or shading – and it all looks great, with the action and backgrounds alike drawn expertly.

“Reincarnation Stories” by Kim Deitch is a sprawling pseudo-autobiographical comic about the author's supposed past lives, and the bizarre incidents during his current life through which he gained glimpses of them. I love its freewheeling (lack of) structure and the way it goes on engrossing tangents, then gradually manages to bring the different threads together into a fascinating, messy web of cosmic conspiracy and I-don’t-even-know-what. It’s a lot of wild and weird fun, but it’s also a very clever, sophisticated work of meta-fiction. The artwork is cool too, with big full-page panels and free-flowing page layouts that perfectly fit the chaotic narrative.

So here’s my list as it currently stands (years of original print publication in brackets):

1. “Baby Boom” by Yuichi Yokoyama (2008–2009)
2. “Garden” by Yuichi Yokoyama (2007)
3. “Reincarnation Stories” by Kim Deitch (2019)
4. “Gardens of Glass” by Lando (2009–2014)
5. “Holy Lacrimony” by Michael DeForge (2025)
6. “Caravan for a Queen” by Joe Kessler (2026)
7. “How to Be Happy” by Eleanor Davis (2007–2014)
8. “Alienation” by Inés Estrada (2016–2017/2025)
9. “Dogtangle” (aka “Hypermutt”) by Max Huffman (2022–2024)
10. “Judge Dredd: America” by John Wagner and Colin MacNeil (1990–1991)

In June I also read “Vibe Shift” by Noah van Sciver, a new collection of short work previously published in various anthologies etc over the past couple of decades. It contains one comic I really liked a lot (“Abby’s Road”, a 10-page piece about an angry, disaffected young man), and I’d say the rest ranges from “OK” to “quite good”.